Sky Sports’ Wayne Mardle believes what Luke Littler has achieved in darts is “ridiculous” but thinks he can be truly judged when he goes on the defence of his title at the World Darts Championship.
Littler pulled off his first-ever title defence with a 16-11 victory over Luke Humphries at the Grand Slam of Darts, becoming only the fourth player to retain the title alongside Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, and Gerwyn Price.
Not only that, his run to the final moved him into the world No 1 spot to usurp ‘Cool Hand’, Littler making more history as the youngest world No 1 in the history of the PDC.
While it means Littler has now picked up eight major titles in his short professional career, Mardle thinks the real judgement day arrives in December when Littler heads to Alexandra Palace with the task of becoming only the fourth player to become a back-to-back world champion. Indeed, he would join just Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson, and Adrian Lewis in retaining the trophy.
Luke Littler showed off his dance moves as he lifted the Eric Bristow Trophy after winning the Grand Slam of Darts.
“That’s how you get judged. You’re always judged on being a world champion and how many you win,” Mardle said.
“If he was to win five of these Grand Slams and only one world title, it’d be a question of why did he only win one world title?
“There was a time when Michael van Gerwen won 26 events in one year, but didn’t win the Worlds. He literally said, I’d swap the whole lot for being a world champion.
“These are interesting times and exciting times. Whilst this is absolutely huge right now, the Worlds is the biggest thing.”
The rise of the teenagers
With the ‘Littler effect’ in full swing, Mardle says he would not be surprised to have semi-finals of teenagers at the Worlds in just a few years’ time with the level of darts being played now by youngsters on the circuit.
“It is ridiculous, and because we’ve really never seen it before, it seems even more ridiculous,” he added.
Luke Littler hit two massive finishes – 167 and 160 – which saw Luke Humphries tease ‘The Nuke’.
“In four or five years, it wouldn’t surprise me if the semi-finals of the World Championship consisted of four teenagers.
“If you would have said that before Luke Littler, it would have been, are you mad? Now, it seems doable.
“It seems like there will be another Luke Littler around the corner. I’m not saying in the next year or so, but in the next two or three.
“Kids watching him will be inspired to be like him, like I was watching Eric Bristow like someone else watching Phil Taylor.
“In a way, you kind of have to forget his age and everything now, because the experience he’s got and how good he is, it’s beyond his age.
“Say he’s at this kind of level for the next four or five years. Why can’t he go on and win another three or four World Championships?”
This means war: A golden era continues
Despite all his success, Littler does truly have a rival in Humphries standing in his way, with the pair both declaring themselves in a “league of their own” from the rest.
Humphries was bullish that Worlds glory would be his and Mardle enjoys seeing the pair lean into their rivalry.
“What was really good is to hear Luke Humphries afterwards say that they are the best two,” he said.
“I don’t think he bigs himself up enough, and I don’t know why he’s bigging himself up now, after losing the No 1 spot, he should have been doing that before.
“The pair of them go at it differently to the others. You feel like they can do it every single day, every single match, and no matter what the situation. Others have to match them, they don’t have to match anyone.
Luke Humphries declared that he’s going to war with Luke Littler at the World Darts Championship as the two shared some friendly words after Littler’s Grand Slam of Darts win.
“But when you look at the way they go about their business, it is elevated because the others are so good, but just not as good as them.
“To hear Luke Humphries be really buoyant after defeat, good on him.
“I wish he was this buoyant when he was the World No 1 and the world champion.
“It’s a great time for anyone to watch darts, to come to darts, to be involved in darts, because these two are creating a golden era between them. They really are.”
Who will win Worlds?
So, if the Worlds truly is judgement day, who is Mardle calling to win it?
He is going for the predictable yet most likely answer: Another Luke vs Luke final.
Luke Littler retained his Grand Slam of Darts crown with a convincing win over Luke Humphries.
“There’s maybe seven, eight, nine players that can win it,” Mardle said.
“But these two are the two. They’re the ones to beat.
“I’m going to predict it will be a Luke and Luke final – boringly – but that’s the way it is, because that they are head and shoulders above.”
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